‘All things are mortal, but the Jew. Other
forces pass but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?’ Mark
Twain

Turn on your TV, open your newspapers,
listen to your radio – doesn’t matter what you do, you cannot escape the fact
that Israel is the constant focus of the world’s media. This shouldn’t be
surprising, for God has spoken through the prophets that He would make Israel
and Jerusalem the centre of the world’s attention. The following study is based
on a sermon I recently gave where I tried to give an outline for what is
currently happening in the Middle East and what the Bible tells us will happen
before Jesus returns. Not easy for one sermon believe me! So this is not a
detailed study of end time events, but an overview of God’s future dealings
with Israel and the return of her Messiah. Specifically, I want to look at the
following questions -

Does Israel as a nation have a specific part to play in the
plan of God?

What specific issue has to happen before Israel is saved?

How does this specific issue come about?

What is the climax of this issue?

All sounds a bit vague doesn’t it? It
should make sense as we carry on. But let me add firstly that this study is
about Israel and the return of Jesus to deliver that nation. It is not about
the church or the rapture, which God has different plans for. I strongly
believe that the rapture of the church can occur at any moment and is
distinctly separated from the second coming of Jesus to deliver Israel at the
end of the tribulation. But as the church we can look at Israel, God’s time
clock, and know that the time of our homecoming is at hand.

Does Israel as a nation have a specific part to play in
the plan of God?

I find it a shame that this question even
needs to be asked but because of some who still teach that God has given up
on Israel as a nation, lets look at a few scriptures that clearly confirm this
is not the case.

Rom 11:23-24 ‘And they also (Israel), if
they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in; for God is able to
graft them in again. For if you (gentiles) were cut off from what is by nature
a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive
tree, how much more shall these who are the natural branches (Israel) be grafted
into their own olive tree?’

In Romans chapter 11 Paul has to answer
this very question – does Israel as a nation have a future in the plan of God?
Notice first of all that he says that it is certainly possible for God to graft
them in back if they do not continue in unbelief, since they are the natural
branches. He now goes on and gets more specific saying

Rom 11:25-26 ‘For I do not want you,
brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery, lest you be wise in your own
estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness
of the Gentiles has come in; and thus all Israel will be saved.’

Not only is it possible, it is actually
going to happen! It is called a ‘mystery’, which are specific truths not shown
in the Old Testament, but now revealed in the New Testament. That Israel would
be hardened in part while Gentile nations came to know the Lord was not
revealed in the Old Testament. Yet Paul doesn’t end it there. He sees further
ahead still and writes that after the full number of Gentiles have been saved,
God will once again turn back to Israel and save them.

Rom 11:26-28 ‘Just as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob.”“And
this isMy covenant with them,
When I take away their sins.”

From the standpoint of the gospel they
are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved
for the sake of the fathers; for the gifts and the calling of God are
irrevocable.’

Could Paul be any clearer? While the nation
of Israel is currently hardened and to an extent, an enemy of the Gospel, yet
they are still loved because of the promises made to Israel’s fathers –
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And finally the clincher – the giftings and callings of
God are irrevocable. That is, God doesn’t change His mind about those whom he
chooses! Never! If you need any further proof, please note that Paul quotes
from Jeremiah 31:33-34 to prove that God still has a plan for that nation.
Jeremiah 31, starting in verse 27 speaks of the new covenant that God will make
with the nation of Israel, which will not be like the one when He took them out
of Egypt. In verses 35-37 God even issues a challenge saying that only
if the heavens can be measured, or day and night cease, will He cast off the
offspring of Israel! And that my friends, isn’t going to happen! So we have
seen that God still has a plan for the nation of Israel to bring them into a
new covenant and relationship with Him, and that this occurs ‘after the fullness
of the gentiles has come in’. So the next question has to be…

What specific issue has to happen before Israel is saved?

In the quote from Romans chapter 11 earlier, Paul linked ‘all Israel
shall be saved’ with ‘The deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove
ungodliness from Jacob.’ (Isa 59:20) In other words, the future salvation of
Israel is clearly linked with the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ – the
deliverer and redeemer of Israel! This should not come as a surprise for Jesus
Himself said

Luke 13:34-35 ‘O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that
kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I wanted to gather
your children together, just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you
would not have it! “Behold, your house is left to you desolate; and I say to
you, you shall not see Me until the time comes when you say,
‘BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!’”
’

‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the
Lord’ is a Messianic title from Psalm 118:26 and it is this title that some who
did believe shouted out to Jesus on His triumphant entry into Jerusalem. (Luke
19:38) But Jesus said that Israel would be left desolate, and that they would
not see Him again UNTIL they acknowledge that He is their Messiah. This is in accordance
with Old Testament scriptures as well, such as

Hosea 5:14-15 ‘For I will be like a
lion to Ephraim, and like a young lion to the house of Judah... I will go away and return to My
place until they acknowledge their guilt and seek My face; In their
affliction they will earnestly seek Me.

Please read the whole passage in Hosea. It
is God speaking, saying that He will return to His place until Israel admit
their guilt and seek His face. Now we know that Jesus is the Lion of the tribe
of Judah and it is in Jesus that this prophecy is fulfilled. So we have before
us the specific issue that must take place before Israel as a nation can be
saved – they must acknowledge that Jesus is their Messiah and their guilt in
rejecting Him 2000 years ago.So the next
question is…

How does this acknowledgement that Jesus is the Messiah
come about?

From the Hosea passage quoted above, we
read ‘in their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.’ While there are
individual Jews who have come to believe in Jesus, as a nation, Israel still
remains in gross unbelief today. What is coming upon the nation of Israel is
the hardest times in their entire history. It is in their affliction that they
will cry out for Jesus to come and save them. It is known as the ‘time of Jacob’s
trouble.’

Jer 30:2-7 ‘For, behold, days are
coming,‘ declares the Lord, ‘when
I will restore the fortunes of My people Israel and Judah.’ The Lord says, ‘I will also bring them
back to the land that I gave to their forefathers, and they shall possess
it.’ ”Now these are the words which the Lord
spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah,“For thus says the Lord, ‘I
have heard a sound of terror, of dread, and there is no peace.‘ Ask now, and
see, if a male can give birth. Why do I see every man with his hands on his loins,
as a woman in childbirth? And why
have all faces turned pale? ‘Alas! For that day is
great, there is none like it. It is the time of Jacob’s trouble, but he will
be saved from it.’

So forget the current Middle East ‘peace
process’. The Arab nations are not after peace. They are after the annihilation
of Israel. Muhammad himself declared ‘the last hour will not come before the
Muslims fight the Jews and the Muslims kill them.’ Muslims believe the 21st
century to be the ‘century of Islam’ and that the annihilation of Israel is
simply the precursor to conquest in the West. The war in the Middle East is not
about land, it is about religion. That Islam (which means ‘absolute
submission’) cannot even deal with this tiny little nation called Israel, which
won’t submit or follow Allah, is a great disgrace for every Muslim faithful to
the Koran. Their intention is still the same as that penned 3000 years ago.

Psalm 83:1-4 ‘God, do not keep silent; be
not quiet, O God, be not still. See how your enemies are astir, how your foes
rear their heads. With cunning they conspire against your people; they plot
against those you cherish. “Come,”
they say, “let us destroy them as a nation, that the name of Israel be
remembered no more.’

Jesus Himself testified to how terrible
these times would be saying

Matt 24:21-22 ‘For then there will be
great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and
never to be equaled again. If
those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of
the elect those days will be shortened.’

What is the climax of this issue?

We have seen that it is ‘in their
(Israel’s) affliction that they will seek me (Jesus)’. I now want to be a
little more specific as to the climax of this issue. The Prophet Zechariah
tells us how things will end saying

Zech 12:1-3 ‘This is the word of the LORD
concerning Israel… “I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the
surrounding peoples reeling. Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem.On that day, when all the nations of the
earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for
all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves.’

Israel is currently ranked as having the 4th
best army in the entire world and this has been proven time and time again, as
they have had to fight for their very existence. Just a quick summary of their
wars shows some remarkable victories –

1948 – War of Independence. Straight after
becoming a nation again, 18,000 Jewish settlers had to fight 7 trained, fully
equipped Arab armies. Many of the Jews fought without even having a gun, yet
they won.

1967 – In the face of another Arab attack,
Israel launched a pre-emptive strike in what is now the famous 6-day War. This
lightening victory left the world gasping and military academies entering new
tactics into the warfare journals!

1973 – The Yom Kippur War. On the Holiest
of all Jewish days, (the day of Atonement), Israel was attacked by a united
Arab force. Israel suffered great losses as it took up to 3 days to fully
mobilise its army. Yet, while outnumbered 4 to 1, (300,000 Israelis fought
1,200,000 Arabs) Israel still won and were even on the doorsteps of both Cairo
and Damascus when other nations persuaded them to stop.

Yet the war that is coming is even too
great for Israel. Zechariah tells a little more saying -

Zech 14:2-3 ‘I will gather all the
nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the
houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but
the rest of the people will not be taken from the city

In the midst of the chaos however,
Zechariah tells us one more amazing prophetic statement - something that will
completely change the course of this battle! Zechariah tells us that the
following will happen.

Zech 12:10 ‘They will look on me, the
one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an
only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.’

The word translated ‘on me’ can also be translated
‘to me’. I think both are true. Fulfilling Luke 13:35 quoted earlier, Israel
will first look to Jesus, the one they pierced on the cross 2000 years ago. The
will recognise that Jesus, their Messiah was ‘the son of Joseph’ who suffered
at their own hands. And then, in a miracle of miracles, they will actually look
on Him, as He comes down to deliver Israel and fight the nations that have
attacked her. In doing so Jesus will fulfil the prophecies that the Messiah
would also be ‘the son of David’ – a conquering King! In the face of
unbelievable opposition, Israel will cry out for their Messiah to return, and
He will! Listen to their cry -

Isaiah 64:1-3 ‘Oh, that you would rend
the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you! As
when fire sets twigs ablaze and causes water to boil, come down to make your
name known to your enemies and cause the nations to quake before you! For
when you did awesome things that we did not expect, you came down, and the
mountains trembled before you.’

Listen to how incredible, and how
frightening, that day will be for those that have come to fight against Israel.

Zech 14:3-9 ‘Then the LORD will go out
and fight against those nations, as he fights in the day of battle. On that
day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the
Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley,
with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south… Then the LORD my
God will come, and all the holy ones with him. On that day there will be no
light, no cold or frost. It
will be a unique day, without daytime or nighttime—a day known to the LORD.
When evening comes, there will be light. On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half
to the eastern sea and half to the western sea, in summer and in winter. The
LORD will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one LORD, and
his name the only name.’

The Judgement of the Nations

The Prophet Joel also speaks of this time,
as well as the judgement that is to follow. I only mention it here simply to
show the basis upon which this judgement takes place. Firstly he prophesies the
battle itself:

Joel 3:9-11 ‘Proclaim this among the
nations: Prepare for war! Rouse the warriors! Let all the fighting men draw
near and attack. Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into
spears. Let the weakling say, ‘I am strong!‘ Come quickly, all you nations from
every side, and assemble there.’

There they will be judged on the basis of
their treatment of Israel.

Joel 3:1-2 ‘In those days and at that
time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,I will
gather all nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There I
will enter into judgment against them concerning my inheritance, my people
Israel, for they scattered my people among the nations and divided up my land.’

Joel 3:14-16 ‘Multitudes, multitudes
in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of
decision. The sun and moon
will be darkened, and the stars no longer shine. The LORD will roar from
Zion and thunder from Jerusalem; the earth and the sky will tremble. But the
LORD will be a refuge for his people, a stronghold for the people of Israel.’

Conclusion

The time is at hand for these amazing
prophecies to be fulfilled and Israel has a huge part to play in the coming
days. Even as we look at the news today we see that Jerusalem is the center of
the world’s attention just as God said it would be thousands of years ago. But
that which is coming is the ‘time of Jacob’s trouble… but He will be saved out
of it’. So forget the treaties and false promises of peace for the Middle East.
The word of God has already revealed what will take place. Through affliction,
God will enable Israel to believe that Jesus is their Messiah, yet it will not
be easy. And if you are a Christian, then begin to look up, for as we see these
things begin to take place we know that our redemption draws near!